Digital Trends

Creative Labs Zen Vision 30GB October 2nd, 2005 | by Ian Bell

Creative Labs uses their own software program, called MediaSource, for transferring files over to the Zen Vision. Creative’s MediaSource program works well – when it’s working. The installation CD that came with our player would not work on any of our test machines, crashing when it launched the Install Shield. So, we had to download the software from Creative’s website in order to get it installed. Creative’s MediaSource program is broken down into three different parts: The Audio Converter, the Player and the Organizer. The Audio Converter software lets you do batch conversions of audio files from one format to another, and then place the converted files into a specified folder. The formats supported include WAV, MP3, WMA, WMA Pro and WMA Lossless. MediaSource Organizer looks and feels very similar to the Sync portion of Windows Media Player 10. Here, you can organize your video and music libraries, and have the software sync what you tell it to, directly to the Zen Vision. You can either do an auto sync, where it synchronizes your entire library, or you can manually tell it what to sync. Lastly, is the MediaSource player which acts as the software media player on your PC. The look and feel of the whole MediaSource software package is fairly clean and easy to use. There are few advanced options available, but it should do the trick for most users. 

The Video Vault software that also comes with the Zen Vision, is probably going to be your best friend if you want to put DVD content on your player. With this software, you can convert and transfer DVDs, VCDs, SVCDs, Analog and Digital Camcorder Tapes and even files to the Zen Vision. The main problem, is that this seems to have just been thrown in as an afterthought on Creative’s part. There are no instructions included with the software, plus it’s a trial version which means you will need to pay even more for a full-copy with all of the functions.

Other integrated features include a calendar, tasks and contacts list. You can sync these with Microsoft Outlook using the Creative Sync Manager software. It’s a nice feature to have, but don’t expect a full PDA replacement. We recommend going for the Palm Life Drive if you want that. 

When viewing pictures, the Zen Vision will show a full screen full of picture thumbnails for you to choose from. You can opt to manually control which pictures are shown, or you can use the systems slidshow function to show images in a set order seperated by timer. You can setup the slideshow settings under the top level menu settings option. During manual or slideshow mode you can also play music in the background if you want to. Using the joystick, you can skip backwards, forwards or rotate the picture orientation. You can also output images to your television using the included A/V cable.

Photo Thumbnails

On the audio side, we are very disappointed in the way the Zen Vision sounds. Bass distorts at medium to high volumes, and the included ear buds sound terrible. Although there are 9 equalizer settings to choose from, it is hard to tell the difference between them. Audio enthusiasts that are interested in this player, should buy a nice set of headphones or ear buds to help compensate for the poor audio hardware in the unit itself. Really though, you should get the Zen Vision for its video and picture capabilities. We expected better sound quality from Creative, which is known for their sound cards. Creative should have also added a second integrated speaker to give this device stereo sound, much like the Sony PSP. Instead, you are forced to listen to the single speaker found on the Vision if you do not want to have to use ear buds. 

Song and Artist Information

Video Menu

Creative says, you should be able to get around 13.5 hours of audio playback from the unit, between battery charges, and 4.5 hours of video playback. We were able to get about 11 hours of audio playback, and close to 4 hours of video from a full charge. If you think you will be traveling a lot with the Zen Vision, we recommend buying a few more batteries.